This a song about what happens directly after a long relationship comes to a close and about what is discovered soon thereafter. This has recently happened for me and there seems to come a period of making up for lost time in a changed world. In short, a period of almost manufactured stupidity.
I think it’s probably important to get a little lost in the woods before coming out again. If you don’t, you might remain in the woods without even knowing it.
Anyway, the title (which is also the album title) is taken from a David Foster Wallace story, “Forever Overhead,” which is in the collection, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. I love the sentence: “You have grown into a new fragility.”
lyrics
I was the last to know
As the paint it dried on the pavement
And now I’m waiting for
Anyone at all
You had the wrong idea
Although the birds they once called your name
And if they called mine too,
I didn’t hear them
I wouldn’t know
What did the sirens sing?
And did the hospital take you in?
You played with fireworks, with daddy’s drugs,
On a holiday, you said you just needed to get away
Taking some midnight drive out to Long Beach Island
Stranded, half-naked on a strange man’s couch
No hearts are broken when there’s no one to let down
In a while, I’m going to wish it was over
In a while, I’ll get so stupid and young
In a while, I’ll come to remember
I never want to take another chance on anyone
Just when I thought it was the end,
You say, “who am I to you now?”
And with the tables turned,
Would I run?
Would I cry?
Will I ever really learn to love someone across the sea?
She is waiting there for me
While I’m running ever softly away
In a while, I’m going to wish it was over
In a while, I’ll get so stupid and young
In a while, I’ll come to remember
I never want to take another chance on anyone
And honestly I was not trying to deceive
I can’t believe the things I do to myself
I want to leave what I had never intended
To never set foot inside this burning house again
credits
from New Fragility (Deluxe Edition),
released February 12, 2021
Alec Ounsworth: vocals, guitars, keys, bass, tambourine
Jonas Oesterle: drums
Jaron Olevsky — piano, synths
